The records were created from the inception of the RAF in April 1918. However, they include retrospective details of earlier service in the Royal Flying Corps or Royal Naval Air Service, where appropriate.

County Durham Home Guard Records 1939 -1945 – In 2012, The National Archives released around 40,000 digitised Second World War Home Guard personnel records for County Durham as part of a pilot project. Now, a further 20,000 records have been added, meaning that around 75 per cent of the records for County Durham Home Guard are now available online.

19th C Immigrants Records 1801 – 1871 – The records of thousands of 19th century immigrants to Britain are now available to search online. The collection, which covers the period 1801 to 1871, includes records relating to more than 7,000 people who applied to become British citizens under the 1844 Naturalisation Act, as well as a small number of papers relating to denization, a form of British citizenship that conferred some but not all the rights of a British subject.

Applicants were required under the act to present a memorial to the Secretary of State at the Home Office stating their age, trade and duration of residence.

They include a rich mix of individuals from across the world, including a large number of immigrants from French and German states, as well as Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Spain, Russia, Poland, Sweden and the Italian states